Mets Introduce Carlos Beltran as Their New Manager Tony Plate

                                                                   
The New York Mets officially introduced former Met Carlos Beltran, who played with the team from 2005-2011, as their new manager. He was a five-time All-Star as a player. He is the 22^nd manager in Met History. He brings with him a superstar presence. 

When General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen announced Beltran to the media he said “welcome home.”

Beltran was a little overwhelmed and excited to begin his managerial career while wearing the same uniform as a player. He also said that he can’t wait to rewrite his story as manager of the Mets. He said that he has unfinished business with the Mets meaning he will push his team to win. He is looking forward to having baseball conversation. He will use data to benefit himself and create a decent vision.

Brodie said that Beltran has five qualities that stood out to him during his managerial search. They were poise, trustworthiness and that will go a long way, he is a student and has a willingness to learn, he has a commitment to beating opponents, and has an unrivaled appreciation and understanding of players.

Brodie said they are a players-first organization, and Carlos will be a players-first manager.  He added that Carlos' on-field and front-office experience will give him instant credibility in the clubhouse. He will command the respect of all his players.

Brodie’s goals during the off-season will be to create depth in the starting rotation, improve the defense at catcher and centerfield and improve the bullpen through free-agency or trades.

In other baseball news, congratulations to the Washington Nationals on their first World Series Championship, defeating the Houston Astros 4-3, which nobody thought would occur due to their past gut-wrenching post season failures. 

In my opinion, they were the “Amazing Miracle Nationals,” because they started off 19-31 which marked the worst fifty game start for any World Series Champion, and they had a horrendous bullpen which basically was the worst in baseball during the regular season.

Only the 1914 Boston “Miracle” Braves before them had ever rebounded to make the post-season after such a slow start, but those Braves teams did not have to go through a post season gauntlet quite like what lied ahead for the Nationals. They became the ninth team in MLB history to make the postseason after bottoming out so far.

The Nationals defeated the Brewers and their great closer Josh Hader in the Wildcard game. They upset the defending National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS in five games. They then upset a tough St Louis Cardinal team in the NLCS in four straight games. 

They upset the mighty Houston Astros team that had that great pitching trio of Cole, Verlander and Grienke, and that had won 107 games during the regular season, in the World Series in seven games. The Nationals won four road games ,which was never done before in World Series history.